Gartner: PC sales continue to slide as tablets eat their lunch

PC shipments are still heading the wrong way down the gadget freeway, according to Gartner, who thinks that we're now consuming media mostly on tablets and just flitting over to the PC for grunt work. The survey outfit theorized that a single shared computer can often suffice for a family, with individuals getting their own tablet instead of a laptop or desktop for personal stuff -- especially with compelling, inexpensive new entries like the Nexus 7. Gift-givers were less inclined to wrap up PCs this Christmas, and Windows 8 didn't give them much of a boost either, according to the figures. The only companies with anything to celebrate during the period were Lenovoand Asus, who experienced 8.2 and 6.4 percent boosts respectively, reflecting another trend that competitors like HP and Dell will want to nip in the bud -- and fast.